Highlights

A by-elections Super Thursday is in the offing in Telford as 14 candidates representing six parties battle for just three seats.

The by-elections in St George’s, Wellington and Oakengates will be held on Thursday, November 20, with Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats fielding candidates in all three seats.

Cuts and ‘efficiencies’ of more than £4million will be needed at Telford & Wrekin Council over the next five months if it is to stay within budget, a report reveals.

Officials at the Labour controlled council have forecast a massive further increase in care costs for elderly people which they say has been identified in the last three months.

Former Telford MP Lucy Allan has denied recent speculation that she has joined the Reform UK party, confirming to Telford Live that she is currently enjoying a break from the political sphere.

A 70-bed care home can be added to a big new development in Newport as long as 20 conditions are met, planners have decided.

Space has been found for the specialist dementia care units at a site that is already being developed for a retirement village on land off Palisade Close

Telford & Wrekin Council is prioritising support for vulnerable people, particularly the elderly, as it grapples with a significant challenge to its budget due to soaring adult social care costs.

The Council’s Cabinet will next week review a financial monitoring report that outlines in-year pressures, the largest of which is in adult social care. This service, which was allocated £77 million at the start of the financial year, is now forecast to require an additional £14 million by the end of March 2026.

Three fire appliances were scrambled to The Ley on Tuesday (28 October) after a fire was reported at 6.29pm. Crews from Telford Central and Wellington fire stations attended the scene, where a ‘House Fire Persons Reported’ was initially declared.

Firefighters confirmed that all residents were accounted for shortly after arriving. One male was taken into the care of the West Midlands Ambulance Service.

A comprehensive review of town and parish council arrangements across Telford and Wrekin is nearing its conclusion, with final recommendations due to be considered next week by Telford & Wrekin Council’s cross-party Boundary Review Committee.

Public consultation has been central to the review process.

Plans have been lodged for the next 135 homes to be built as part of a 1,100-dwellings development on the outskirts of Telford.

Planning agent Roebuck Planning, based in Milton Keyes, has told Telford & Wrekin Council that the application makes provision for 24 per cent of the homes to be classified as “affordable”.

​A major stretch of the Holyhead Road in Telford is set to close for six days as resurfacing work is carried out, affecting traffic and several key bus services.

​The road near Snedshill will be completely shut between 8am on Monday, 27 October, and Saturday, 1 November.

Voters across Telford will have a wider choice in the upcoming parish and town council by-elections after the Liberal Democrats confirmed they are contesting all three seats. This move follows a number of recent elections where the party has had no representation, sparking local debate about limited voter options.

Firefighters successfully rescued an 11-year-old dog that had become stuck in a culvert near the Youth Hostel on High Street, Coalport.

Half a dozen cars were written off or damaged as a Vauxhall veers off Bridgnorth Road at Tweedale into Court Autos.

Shifnal Town Council has launched the tender process to find a contractor to design and build a major new play area at Wheatfield Drive.

The total budget for all three sites is expected to be between £320,000 and £370,000, depending on final designs.

All funding has been sourced from the Community Infrastructure Levy, collected from new housing developments in the town.

The former “Blue School” in Ironbridge, named after its distinctive blue bricks, is to be sold at auction next month with an enticing guide price of £100,000.

The old Church of England School in St Luke’s Road, which was built in the late 1850s and closed in 1969, will be going under the hammer at estate agents and auctioneers Halls’ Collective Property and Land Auction in Shrewsbury on November 28.

Developers of a high profile housing site have been told that they should not use holly bushes around a children’s play area because of the festive plant’s thorns.

Planning officials at Shropshire Council have spiked some of the proposed details behind the redevelopment of part of the Ironbridge Power Station site, including for a play area.

A care provider wants to change a seven-bedroom house in Telford into a children’s residential home without going through the full planning application process.

Reward Chitura, of Cynosure HCS, has applied to Telford & Wrekin Council for a Certificate of Lawfulness for the proposed change of use of the property in Dudmaston, Hollinswood.

From Monday, October 27 to Sunday, November 2, all single journeys on Travel Telford services will be reduced to just 50 pence.

This pricing will apply to routes 99, 100, 101, 102, and 103, and forms part of the council’s ongoing commitment to providing accessible, affordable, and reliable public transport for residents across the borough.

Fire service leaders in Shropshire have cancelled a popular fundraising Christmas event as budget pressures loom for the organisation.

Councillor Fiona Doran (Donnington West Ward), chairing the meeting said: “I don’t feel comfortable standing at bus stops where someone’s had a pee.”

Cllr says the signs “…are inadequate – I’m sure they’ve got bigger signs in Trumpton.”

Surprise as road closes with ‘one day’s notice’ for ‘experiment’

The Trust is now performing in the top half of the country for the proportion of patients who wait less than six weeks for their diagnostic test.

The event, from 5pm to 8pm, will give families the chance to experience the school under new principal Sarah Barton.

Rather than the surgeon holding the laparoscope and surgical instruments, they are held and
moved by robotic ‘arms’ which the surgeon controls from a console in the operating theatre.

Some 7,020 adult victims in the borough have experienced domestic abuse at some point in the last year, the council estimates.

Wombridge and Lawley primary schools were two of 300 schools across the country to be given a slice of £37million for new nursery provision.